News
Local

City council: MP vows London won't lose out to Toronto with transit dollars

Elgin-Middlesex-London MP Karen Vecchio addresses the corporate services committee Tuesday as she and fellow MPs Irene Mathyssen, Peter Fragiskatos and Kate Young meet with city politicians at city hall to discuss local issues. (CRAIG GLOVER, The London Free Press

Topics

More Coverage

Rapid transit, affordable housing, alleviating poverty and local tech successes were among the raft of topics London MPs discussed with city politicians in a public sit-down Tuesday.

In a meeting heavy on political platitudes and light on real policy talk, the four federal politicians – two governing Liberals, one Tory and one New Democrat – spent about two hours batting around local priorities with several members of city council, including Mayor Matt Brown.

Here’s a sampling of the topics broached, and who said what:

RAPID TRANSIT

Mayor Matt Brown: “This is the single largest project we have ever contemplated as a community. It will fundamentally change the way we move across (London). We’re willing to direct significant dollars (to it) but we need to partner with our federal and provincial partners.”

Liberal MP Kate Young: “London will not lose out to Toronto (in terms of funding). We always hear that Toronto is getting the vast majority of funding. We believe all communities need to get a piece of that pie.”

Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos: “It (a rapid transit system) will cut down on congestion. And when you have congestion, it limits economic growth.”

CURBING POVERTY

Coun. Maureen Cassidy: “This council unanimously supported a report that came out through the community . . . London For All: A Road Map to End Poverty. We need your leadership on (its) implementation. This is a community problem and it will only be solved if the entire community is involved.”

Tory MP Karen Vecchio: “For me I think the No. 1 thing we can do to eradicate poverty is to create employment (by) making sure we have the small business tax credits and lower taxes.”

NDP MP Irene Mathyssen: “One thing we need to collectively look at is access to education. We have to make sure that post-secondary school, no matter what it is, has to be affordable.”

LONDON’S TECH SECTOR

MP Fragiskatos: “Waterloo can talk all it wants about the innovation that’s happening there. Well, (we’re) champions for London, too. We need to get behind an innovation agenda for Canada . . . Why can’t London be an innovation leader?”

MP Young: “People are leaving London . . . we have to change the mindset and find a way around that. We talked a lot about the manufacturing base and then we moved on to the tech (sector). We’ve seen a real resurgence in the auto industry. . . . We’re not saying it’s over. We’re saying it can still build.”